Dec 2, 2017

Absurdity doesn't go away, it has recently been persistent in numerous ways. I began to think if it is in fact the existence itself that perpetuates the absurdity. One may wonder weather it is an entity that operates within the sphere of life and if so, wouldn't it be proper to say life is absurd?

Feeling absurd is just like you become part of it. It carries you from one level to another, it passes through your judgement, it blurs the path which you go through, lest you find the trace. You are thrown into an opaque world. You are absurd.

The landscape that absurdity occupies is not minatory, you are not being thrown into a hostile state, it is rather a placid tedium not known to you. Absurdity is a liminal world, albeit not in spiritual sense or something that would include ritual. The climate of absurd world is desolate, dolorous and inescapable. It forces itself into you to do away with your desire to live. Such is the state that I am thrown in.

This is an undated note which I found in my notebook. I thought I should post it here. It reminds me of the Myth of Sisyphus that I read a couple of years ago.

Oct 2, 2017

In regards to my previous blog post on Bahar Jalali's racist tweet, today, I received the following e-mail from the University of Arkansas saying that Bahar Jalali does not work in their institution.

The University of Arkansas was contacted by a reader of your blog, http://www.afghanlord.org/2017/09/bahar-jalali-afghan-educator-or-racist.html regarding Bahar Jalali. There is no employee on our campus named Bahar Jalali, so to refer your readers to Dean Michael Miller isn't useful to your cause. If you could please correct this on your blog, I would be most appreciative.

Thank you,
Laura Jacobs
associate vice chancellor

The information is corrected in my previous blog post. I would like to ask the readers of this blog that please do not contact the university anymore. I am sorry that I misinformed you. Bahar Jalali has probably worked their before but not anymore. She may have forgotten to update her Linkedin profile, which says that she currently works there.

Sep 30, 2017

Bahar Jalali is a well-educated Afghan-American woman. According to her Linkedin profile, she has received her MA from the University of Chicago and studied her doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley. She has taught at American University of Afghanistan for six years.

I was hoping that those Afghans who grew up in the West have skipped the inherited hatred of the Hazaras, but it turns out that I have been wrong. Here it is an evidence from an American born Afghan woman:

What makes Bahar Jalali, an American born Afghan to harbor such hatred towards the Hazaras who have been persecuted throughout the history? She says that the Hazaras should leave Afghanistan. That is exactly what the Taliban wanted almost two decades ago.

It is surprising to read such a racist tweet by an Afghan-American woman regarding the Hazaras who have been oppressed by her people for centuries. She must know better than anyone else what the Hazaras have been through. I can't help but to surmise that she has is a racist and she hates the Hazaras; the same people who have been working hard to rebuild the country. The sons and daughters of the same people whom she hates serve in army and police. In fact, when Jalili worked at American University of Afghanistan, the Hazaras have been protecting her from danger. The Hazaras were security guards at the compound where she held her classes.

I might write another blog post on this, but for now what can be done about it? What would you do to help her learn that she must take responsibility for her actions?
Remember she is an American citizen and she lives and works in the US.

Aug 26, 2017

Wouldn't be interesting if stories and reactions of people regarding the eclipse collected from around the world?

That would a fascinating work because it would not only be entertaining but also enlightening and informative. People will learn about different culture and people's myths regarding the eclipse. It would also tell us about the world view of particular culture influenced by religions and traditions. I guess this would be an anthropological project for, perhaps, a Ph.D. candidate or anyone else who would be interested in folk culture and myths.

If I do this project, I would start from my father. He used to tell us stories that earth is on a giant horn of an ox. But the weight on its long horn of the ox causes its neck to hurt or ache. And that is when the earth quake happens when the ox is changing the burden from one horn to another.

When the eclipse happened, he blamed it on people's sin that evaporates like cloud in the air and rise up until it reaches the solar or moon and finally covers it. Maybe most of the stories would narrate in similar fashion, but I'm doubtful that a person in Africa or South America would think the same way that my father does. It would definitely be different and collecting stories of such myth is worth it.

Aug 23, 2017

This man believes that Eclipse is Jesus's work. He said, he's a professor.

On Monday, August 21, more than 20,000 spectators gathered at Sanford Stadium on the University of Georgia campus for a "Blackout Eclipse Watch Party." (You can see some photos here.) When the eclipse was over and everyone was trying to make their way through throngs of people towards open areas, some encountered unexpected scenes.

There were some individuals, like this person, who were preaching the gospel to the students. This person in the picture believed that Jesus made the eclipse. I approached him and made a tongue-in-cheek comment: "Hey, saying such thing that Jesus made the eclipse on a university campus is insulting to human intelligence," in which he answered: "Oh you are insulting me, sir!" He was obviously serious, but I was not. I left. Some students stopped by and took selfie while joking and laughing.

This man reminded me of my father. Just a reminder for those of you who visit this blog for the first time and read this post, I was born in a far-flung village in central highlands of Afghanistan known Hazarajat.

Every time there was a solar or lunar eclipse, my father used to tell us that it is the work of God. He used to ask us to read the Qur'an, (I used to joke with my brother that how terrifying verses of the Qur'an would be to stop God from what he likes to do) loud enough that can be heard across the planet. He himself used to weep while standing upright in front our house or sometimes on the roof for supplication. He was sad and made us sad, but we were sad because our dad was sad, not because of lunar eclipse. We had no idea what that was. Our sadness also had another element. When my father was sad, he would get irritable and difficult. We had avoid engaging with him in any sort of conversation. He would become unpredictable and that was not good. So, when the eclipse was happening, one could read from my father's face that the world was ending and we had to be careful not to contribute to it.

Yes, I grew up with such myths, that God does such and such and if you do wrong you go to hell and if you do right, you go to heaven. My father is an illiterate peasant. He can't read and can't write. But when I encounter someone blaming the eclipse on human sin and says he's a professor, I feel hopeless and sad, not for the society, but for that individual person who still lives in the dark.

Aug 22, 2017

Tonight, President Trump, announced his long-awaited strategy on Afghanistan. He vowed to work with Afghan government, to increase the number of troops and most importantly, to pressure Pakistan into ending harboring terrorist networks in its land. Trump's new strategy will ignite hope across Afghanistan, especially among young Afghans.

Factually, this speech was by far one of the most important of Trump's speeches both historically and geopolitically. It is true that Pakistan is the nest for all sort of terrorist networks. Surprisingly, these terrorist networks are controlled and administrated by the Pakistani intelligence service ISI and the army. We all know that the ISI was complicit in harboring Bin Laden for years and we also know that the 2008-Mumbai attacks were carried out by the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a terrorist network based in Pakistan. Trump has put his finger on the pulse of the problem in Afghanistan. That is that the Pakistan must end its support for the Taliban.

Trump's words tonight will reverberate across Afghanistan, especially among the youth. The exodus of Afghan refugees to Europe since 2014 was as a result of U.S. troops drawdown by the Obama administration. It was a mistake. Obama's speech in 2014 on troops drawdown like a bolt of thunder among Afghan people, especially the young ones. It left them weakened and terrified because in the absence of U.S. presence, the Taliban can run over the capital overnight. Currently, Afghan security forces are so ill-equipped and inadequately trained to take over the country's security.

However, Trump did not specify how many troops he will send to Afghanistan. Nevertheless, whatever number it would, it will boast the morale of Afghan government, its security forces and most importantly it will diminish the fear of living under stress and threats from the Taliban among Afghan people.

Finally, this new strategy will also ease the anxiety of U.S. ally, especially some of European countries that are being inundated with Afghan refugees. Trump's speech tonight was a promise that the U.S. will not leave Afghan people alone. Any troop surge on Afghanistan will enhance security and Afghans would be reluctant taking long and perilous journey to Europe.